Teen sitcom
Encyclopedia
A teen situation comedy, or teen sitcom, is a television program
ming genre. Like teen drama
s, this genre was also generally non-existent during the first 30 years of television. Teen sitcoms are often comedic television series targeted towards teenagers, but are also popular with young adults as well as preteens.
, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
and Father Knows Best
were popular with teenagers. The teen movie genre was popular during the 1960s and lead the way towards the teen sitcom genre.
In the mid 1960s, the creation of sitcoms such as The Monkees
and Gidget
were primarily targeted towards the teenage audience. The 1969 sitcom The Brady Bunch
was very popular with the younger audiences, especially preteens and younger teenagers, as was its successor The Partridge Family
, which premiered in 1970.
In the 1980s, television series such as The Facts of Life
, Silver Spoons
, Family Ties
, Growing Pains
, The New Leave It To Beaver
, My Two Dads
and Good Morning, Miss Bliss
(later known as Saved By The Bell
) were extremely popular especially among the younger demographic.
in 1981 had gathered a majority of the teenage audience with the airing of back-to-back music videos. MTV is now a lifestyle and pop culture channel that airs a limited amount of music videos, mostly late night and early morning hours, instead focusing on reality shows, soap operas, sports, documentaries, and music-related programs. MTV aired series targeted towards teenagers such as TRL
, a daily music countdown show, Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County
, a reality show
focused around a group or rich teenagers living in California, its spinoff The Hills
which is about former cast member Lauren Conrad
and her internship at Teen Vogue
. During the 1990s, MTV aired the controversial animated series Beavis and Butt-head
, which focused on the antics of two idiotic teenage slackers and their unsuccessful attempts at scoring with chicks, though they often displayed gross, violent and crude behavior and a spinoff about their former classmate Daria
aired in 1997 which focused around a cynical, sarcastic, intelligent yet monotone teenage girl and her stereotype-infested high school. In 2010 MTV premiered its first real teen sitcom The Hard Times of RJ Berger
which became an instant hit.
premiered on NBC
. The series quickly became a viewers' favorite and one of the most highly rated and popular teen shows of all time. Saved by the Bell had the main characters go through typical teen issues and the drama of high school, though the series was very comical and the issues were often resolved before the end of the episode. Notably Saved by the Bell featured teenage archetypes and stereotypes. Saved by the Bell kept its Saturday morning slot until 1993, when it was canceled. Saved by the Bell spawned an ill-fated spin-off Saved by the Bell: The College Years
which only lasted a season, while another spin-off, Saved by the Bell: The New Class
, had lasted for 7 years. The series was responsible for the creation of NBC's TNBC
Saturday morning block which was targeted towards teenagers.
which focused on a group of teenagers working at a dude ranch and later the 1991 show Clarissa Explains it All
, starring then-unknown actress Melissa Joan Hart
which focused around a young girl Clarissa whom was a typical teenager who faced typical teen issues and an aggravating younger brother. The series was popular and had broken the restrictions of Nickelodeon with using profanity such as "hell" and using the word "sex". This was the only sitcom on Nickelodeon to do that and still maintain a TV-Y7 (formally TV-Y) rating. Hart would later star in the 1996 sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch, based on the 1994 TV movie of the same name. Sabrina the Teenage Witch ran for seven years on ABC
and later The WB. Sabrina focused around the eponymous main character who is a witch and tries to live a normal life as a teenager and later young adult. Nickelodeon later aired shows such as The Adventures of Pete & Pete
, My Brother and Me
, Noah Knows Best
, Taina
, Kenan & Kel
, Salute Your Shorts
, Cousin Skeeter
,animated As Told By Ginger
, Just Jordan
, Unfabulous
, Drake & Josh
, True Jackson, VP
, Zoey 101
, The Secret World of Alex Mack
, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide
and All That
. Nick currently airs Victorious
, iCarly
, Big Time Rush
, and Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures
, which are all targeted towards older children and teenagers, along with adults. Nickelodeon's teen sitcoms (and programs in general) are known for their allusions and pop culture
references, social commentary, dark humours, surrealism
and sexual innuendos. There are also general random moments, but in an often realistic environment and relatable situations to teenagers. Their popularity has led Nick to dissolve its long-running SNICK
block and replace it with the TEENick
block and later a separate channel, The N (now TeenNick
), which is devoted to airing teen dramas and sitcoms.
also tried to mimic the popularity of teen dramas and sitcoms by creating original series such as Flash Forward
, The Jersey
, The Famous Jett Jackson
and So Weird
. Jett Jackson was about a TV star trying to live as a normal teenager and So Weird was a dramatic sci-fi series that focused around a teenage girl who attracts the paranormal/occult and often has to battle potential threats to humanity. So Weird was the first Disney Channel series to focus on dark and scary topics and thus opted Disney to air a much lighter third season which was not as popular with fans. Disney Channel has aired the successful sitcoms Even Stevens
, about the sibling rivalry between Ren and Louis Stevens, and Lizzie McGuire
, which was about a junior high girl who has to battle puberty, popularity and other teen issues; both shows were very popular. The sitcom That's So Raven
became Disney Channel's most popular sitcom to date, outliving previous series by 4 years and 4 seasons, as well as being the first Disney Channel original series ever to reach 100 episodes. Today, Disney Channel airs Jessie
, The Suite Life on Deck
, Wizards of Waverly Place
, So Random!
, Good Luck Charlie
, Shake it up
and ANT Farm, which are all fairly popular with a teenage audience. Hannah Montana in 2010 beat out That's So Raven in popularity, though it was still short of That's So Ravens 100-episode record by two episodes. The sitcoms on Disney Channel are more targeted towards preteen girls which led to the creation of the male-oriented Disney XD
. Disney XD airs the sitcom Zeke and Luther
, which is the most popular sitcom to date, and also airs sitcoms I'm in the Band
, Kickin' It
, and Pair of Kings
. That's So Raven had been unchallenged for five years until Wizards of Waverly Place aired its 100th episode on October 7, 2011, and then aired its 101st episode a week later.
, The WB, and UPN
became channels targeted towards youth. Fox aired teen dramas such as Beverly Hills, 90210
, and Party of Five
and sitcoms such as That '70s Show
, Married with Children and Parker Lewis Can't Lose
. That '70s Show was a hit success and was popular with teenage audiences and adults. It followed six teenagers living in Wisconsin between 1976 to 1979, despite the short time period it was set in, the sitcom aired for eight years on Fox.
The WB and UPN were popular destinations for teen sitcoms. The WB aired Sister, Sister
a show about two teenage twins who were separated at birth and reunite in a clothing store and later get their single parents to let them all live in the same house, The WB also aired What I Like About You
a sitcom about a spontaneous, wild 16-year-old girl Holly Tyler (portrayed by former Nickelodeon star Amanda Bynes
) and her neurotic, uptight older sister Valerie (portrayed by former 90210 star Jennie Garth
). The WB also aired dramas such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and One Tree Hill
. UPN airs mostly black sitcoms such as Moesha
which was about a teenage African-American girl named Moesha (portrayed by singer Brandy
) and her family and friends. The sitcom One on One
was about a young African-American girl named Breanna (Kyla Pratt
) who goes to live with her father who is a former basketball star. Both The WB and UPN were shut down in 2006 and were combined to make The CW. However by 2008 The CW dropped sitcoms from its schedule to focus more on dramas and soap operas.
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
ming genre. Like teen drama
Teen drama
A teen drama is a dramatic television series with a major focus on teenage characters. The genre was relatively non-existent for the first 45 years of television; it came into prominence in the early 1990s...
s, this genre was also generally non-existent during the first 30 years of television. Teen sitcoms are often comedic television series targeted towards teenagers, but are also popular with young adults as well as preteens.
1940s-1980s
When sitcoms reached their peak in the 1950s and 1960s, they were supposed to be family-oriented. Sitcoms of the 1950s such as Leave it to BeaverLeave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from 1959 to 1963. The series and some episode scripts were adapted from a 1951 collection of short stories of the same name, written by Max Shulman, that also inspired the 1953 film The Affairs of Dobie Gillis with Debbie...
and Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best is an American radio and television comedy series which portrayed a middle class family life in the Midwest. It was created by writer Ed James in the 1940s.-Radio:...
were popular with teenagers. The teen movie genre was popular during the 1960s and lead the way towards the teen sitcom genre.
In the mid 1960s, the creation of sitcoms such as The Monkees
The Monkees (TV series)
The Monkees is an American situation comedy that aired on NBC from September 1966 to March 1968. The series follows the adventures of four young men trying to make a name for themselves as rock 'n roll singers. The show introduced a number of innovative new-wave film techniques to series...
and Gidget
Gidget (TV series)
Gidget is an American sitcom about a surfing, boy-crazy teenager called "Gidget" and her widowed father Russ Lawrence, a UCLA professor. Sally Field stars as Gidget with Don Porter as her father. The series was first broadcast on ABC from September 15, 1965 through April 21, 1966...
were primarily targeted towards the teenage audience. The 1969 sitcom The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz and starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis. The series revolved around a large blended family...
was very popular with the younger audiences, especially preteens and younger teenagers, as was its successor The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family is an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embark on a music career. The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974, the last new episode airing on March 23, 1974, on the ABC network, as part of a Friday-night lineup...
, which premiered in 1970.
In the 1980s, television series such as The Facts of Life
The Facts of Life (TV series)
The Facts of Life is an American sitcom that originally ran on the NBC television network from August 24, 1979 to May 7, 1988. A spin-off of the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, the series' premise focused on Edna Garrett as she becomes a housemother at the fictional Eastland School, a prestigious...
, Silver Spoons
Silver Spoons
Silver Spoons is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 25, 1982 to May 11, 1986 and in first-run syndication from September 15, 1986 to March 4, 1987...
, Family Ties
Family Ties
Family Ties is an American sitcom that aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. The sitcom reflected the move in the United States from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s. This was particularly expressed through the relationship between young...
, Growing Pains
Growing Pains
Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based...
, The New Leave It To Beaver
The New Leave It to Beaver
The New Leave It to Beaver is an American sitcom sequel to the 1950s and '60s series, Leave It to Beaver. The New Leave It to Beaver began with the 1983 CBS TV movie Still the Beaver, and was picked up in 1984 as a Disney Channel series with the same name; however, it only lasted one season...
, My Two Dads
My Two Dads
My Two Dads is an American sitcom that starred Staci Keanan, Paul Reiser and Greg Evigan. It aired on NBC from 1987 to 1990 and was produced by Michael Jacobs Productions in association with TriStar Television and distributed by TeleVentures.-Show synopsis:The show begins when Marcy Bradford , the...
and Good Morning, Miss Bliss
Good Morning, Miss Bliss
Good Morning, Miss Bliss is an American teen sitcom that aired on the Disney Channel from 1988 to 1989 , starring Hayley Mills as a teacher at John F...
(later known as Saved By The Bell
Saved by the Bell
Saved by the Bell is an American television sitcom that aired between 1989 and 1993. The series is a retooled version of the 1988 series Good Morning, Miss Bliss, which was itself later folded into the history of Saved by the Bell...
) were extremely popular especially among the younger demographic.
MTV
The creation of MTVMTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
in 1981 had gathered a majority of the teenage audience with the airing of back-to-back music videos. MTV is now a lifestyle and pop culture channel that airs a limited amount of music videos, mostly late night and early morning hours, instead focusing on reality shows, soap operas, sports, documentaries, and music-related programs. MTV aired series targeted towards teenagers such as TRL
Total Request Live
Total Request Live is a television series on MTV that featured popular music videos. TRL was MTV's prime outlet for music videos as the network continues to concentrate on reality-based programming. In addition to music videos, TRL featured daily guests...
, a daily music countdown show, Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County
Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County
Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, often referred to simply as Laguna Beach, is a reality television series which originally aired on MTV from September 28, 2004 until November 16, 2006. It documents the lives of several teenagers living in Laguna Beach, an affluent seaside community located in...
, a reality show
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
focused around a group or rich teenagers living in California, its spinoff The Hills
The Hills
The Hills is a reality television series which originally aired on MTV from May 31, 2006 until July 13, 2010. The show uses a reality television format, following the personal lives of several young adults living in Los Angeles, California, but tends towards a narrative format more commonly found...
which is about former cast member Lauren Conrad
Lauren Conrad
Lauren Katherine Conrad is an American television personality, celebutante, and fashion designer. She came to prominence with her starring roles on the MTV reality series Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County and its spin-off series, The Hills, which at one point followed her personal and...
and her internship at Teen Vogue
Teen Vogue
Teen Vogue magazine began as a version of Vogue magazine for teenage girls. This US magazine focuses on fashion and celebrities and offers information about the latest entertainment and feature stories on current issues and events.- Description :...
. During the 1990s, MTV aired the controversial animated series Beavis and Butt-head
Beavis and Butt-Head
Beavis and Butt-head is an American animated television series created by Mike Judge. The series originated from Frog Baseball, a 1992 short film by Judge. After seeing the short, MTV signed Judge to develop the concept. Beavis and Butt-head originally aired from March 8, 1993 to November 28, 1997...
, which focused on the antics of two idiotic teenage slackers and their unsuccessful attempts at scoring with chicks, though they often displayed gross, violent and crude behavior and a spinoff about their former classmate Daria
Daria
Daria is an American animated television series produced by Paramount Television, and created by Glenn Eichler and Susie Lewis Lynn for MTV. The series focuses on Daria Morgendorffer, a smart, acerbic, and somewhat misanthropic teenage girl who observes the world around her...
aired in 1997 which focused around a cynical, sarcastic, intelligent yet monotone teenage girl and her stereotype-infested high school. In 2010 MTV premiered its first real teen sitcom The Hard Times of RJ Berger
The Hard Times of RJ Berger
The Hard Times of RJ Berger is a United States television comedy series created by David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith for MTV. The show's central character is RJ Berger an unpopular sophomore at the fictional Pinkerton High School in Ohio who has an exceptionally large penis...
which became an instant hit.
NBC
In 1989, the sitcom Saved by the BellSaved by the Bell
Saved by the Bell is an American television sitcom that aired between 1989 and 1993. The series is a retooled version of the 1988 series Good Morning, Miss Bliss, which was itself later folded into the history of Saved by the Bell...
premiered on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. The series quickly became a viewers' favorite and one of the most highly rated and popular teen shows of all time. Saved by the Bell had the main characters go through typical teen issues and the drama of high school, though the series was very comical and the issues were often resolved before the end of the episode. Notably Saved by the Bell featured teenage archetypes and stereotypes. Saved by the Bell kept its Saturday morning slot until 1993, when it was canceled. Saved by the Bell spawned an ill-fated spin-off Saved by the Bell: The College Years
Saved by the Bell: The College Years
Saved by the Bell: The College Years is a sequel to the Saved by the Bell series which ran from September 14, 1993 to February 8, 1994, lasting one season...
which only lasted a season, while another spin-off, Saved by the Bell: The New Class
Saved by the Bell: The New Class
Saved by the Bell: The New Class is a spin-off of the Saved by the Bell series which ran from September 11, 1993 to January 8, 2000. The series lasted for seven seasons on NBC as a part of the network's TNBC Saturday morning line-up. It was the fourth incarnation of the franchise...
, had lasted for 7 years. The series was responsible for the creation of NBC's TNBC
TNBC
TNBC was a Saturday morning programing block of television shows geared toward teenagers and young adults that aired on NBC from 1992 to 2002.-History:The idea for TNBC sprang from the popularity of Saved by the Bell...
Saturday morning block which was targeted towards teenagers.
Nickelodeon
The children's channel Nickelodeon ("Nick") had begun their own trend of teen sitcoms such as the 1989 show Hey DudeHey Dude
Hey Dude is an American Western comedy series that aired from 1989 to 1991. The show was broadcast on the Nickelodeon network, and currently airs reruns on Teen Nick...
which focused on a group of teenagers working at a dude ranch and later the 1991 show Clarissa Explains it All
Clarissa Explains It All
Clarissa Explains It All is an American teen sitcom that aired on Nickelodeon. Created by Mitchell Kriegman, it aired for five seasons for a total of 65 episodes from March 23, 1991, to December 3, 1994, and then went into reruns....
, starring then-unknown actress Melissa Joan Hart
Melissa Joan Hart
Melissa Joan Catherine Hart is an American actress, writer, television director, television producer, singer and businesswoman...
which focused around a young girl Clarissa whom was a typical teenager who faced typical teen issues and an aggravating younger brother. The series was popular and had broken the restrictions of Nickelodeon with using profanity such as "hell" and using the word "sex". This was the only sitcom on Nickelodeon to do that and still maintain a TV-Y7 (formally TV-Y) rating. Hart would later star in the 1996 sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch, based on the 1994 TV movie of the same name. Sabrina the Teenage Witch ran for seven years on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
and later The WB. Sabrina focused around the eponymous main character who is a witch and tries to live a normal life as a teenager and later young adult. Nickelodeon later aired shows such as The Adventures of Pete & Pete
The Adventures of Pete & Pete
The Adventures of Pete & Pete is an American children's television series produced by Wellsville Pictures and broadcast by Nickelodeon. The show featured humorous and surreal elements in its narrative, and many recurring themes centered on two brothers both named Pete Wrigley, and their various...
, My Brother and Me
My Brother and Me
My Brother and Me is a sitcom on Nickelodeon that premiered on October 15, 1994, and ran until February 2, 1995. The show is about a family living in the West Side of Charlotte, North Carolina, who experience the highs and lows of everyday life. Jennifer and Roger Parker have two sons, Alfie and...
, Noah Knows Best
Noah Knows Best
Noah Knows Best is a television series that aired on Nickelodeon. The show premiered on October 7, 2000 and was canceled with five unaired episodes out of thirteen produced, due to low ratings. The show starred Phillip Van Dyke as the title character, Noah...
, Taina
Taina (TV series)
Taina is an American sitcom that aired on Nickelodeon and was one of the last live-action comedy shows taped at Nickelodeon Studios but later moved to the Nickelodeon On Sunset in Hollywood, for its second season. The show aired from January 14, 2001 to May 11, 2002.-Premise:Taina Morales is a...
, Kenan & Kel
Kenan & Kel
Kenan & Kel is an American teen sitcom produced by Tollin/Robbins Productions that originally aired on Nickelodeon from July 1996 to July 2000. The show starred friends and then-All That cast members Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell. Sixty-two episodes and a made-for-TV movie were produced over four...
, Salute Your Shorts
Salute Your Shorts
Salute Your Shorts is an American comedy television series that aired on Nickelodeon from 1991–1992 and in reruns until early 1999. It was last rerun on Nickelodeon GaS from July through September of 2003....
, Cousin Skeeter
Cousin Skeeter
Cousin Skeeter is a television show which ran on Nickelodeon from 1998 to 2003. It starred Robert Ri'chard as Bobby, a young boy, whose life changed when his strange cousin Skeeter comes to live with his family. With Skeeter's help, Bobby learns life lessons and tackles the general ups and downs of...
,animated As Told By Ginger
As Told by Ginger
As Told by Ginger is an American teen drama animated series that was produced by Klasky-Csupo and aired on Nickelodeon from 2000 to 2009. The series focuses on a middle schooler Ginger Foutley who, with her friends, tries to become more than a social geek. There are many subplots that focus on...
, Just Jordan
Just Jordan
Just Jordan is an American television sitcom that aired on Nickelodeon as a part of the network's TEENick lineup. The series debuted on January 7, 2007 and was cancelled on April 5, 2008 with 29 episodes produced.-Premise:...
, Unfabulous
Unfabulous
Unfabulous is an American children's television series that aired on Nickelodeon The series is about an "unfabulous" junior high school student, played by Emma Roberts...
, Drake & Josh
Drake & Josh
Drake & Josh is an American sitcom that premiered on the Nickelodeon television network on January 11, 2004, which follows the lives of two stepbrothers. It stars Drake Bell and Josh Peck as stepbrothers Drake Parker and Josh Nichols, respectively. Both actors had played roles in The Amanda Show,...
, True Jackson, VP
True Jackson, VP
True Jackson, VP is an American television sitcom that aired on Nickelodeon from November 8, 2008 to August 20, 2011. The series starred Keke Palmer, Ashley Argota, Matt Shively, Danielle Bisutti, Greg Proops, Robbie Amell and Ron Butler. The theme song was written by Toby Gad and Keke Palmer and...
, Zoey 101
Zoey 101
Zoey 101 is an American television series that ran from January 9, 2005 to May 2, 2008 starring Jamie Lynn Spears as teenager Zoey Brooks, produced for Nickelodeon and syndicated worldwide. The show was initially filmed at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, then at stages in Valencia,...
, The Secret World of Alex Mack
The Secret World of Alex Mack
The Secret World of Alex Mack is an American television series that ran on Nickelodeon from October 8, 1994 to January 15, 1998, replacing Clarissa Explains It All on the SNICK line-up. It also aired on YTV in Canada and NHK in Japan, and was a popular staple in the children's weekday line-up for...
, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide
Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide
Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, commonly called Ned's Declassified for short, is an American live-action situation comedy on Nickelodeon that debuted in the channel's Sunday night TEENick scheduling block on September 12, 2004. The series' actual pilot episode aired on September 7, 2003...
and All That
All That
All That is an American live-action, sketch comedy-variety show that aired on the Nickelodeon cable television network featuring short comedic sketches and weekly musical guests. The theme song for All That was performed by TLC...
. Nick currently airs Victorious
Victorious
Victorious is an American sitcom created by Dan Schneider for Nickelodeon. The series revolves around aspiring singer Tori Vega , a teenager who attends a performing arts high school called Hollywood Arts High School, after taking her older sister Trina's place in a showcase while getting into...
, iCarly
ICarly
iCarly is an American sitcom that focuses on a girl named Carly Shay who creates her own web show called iCarly with her best friends Sam and Freddie. The series was created by Dan Schneider, who also serves as executive producer. It stars Miranda Cosgrove as Carly, Jennette McCurdy as Sam, Nathan...
, Big Time Rush
Big Time Rush
Big Time Rush is a Nickelodeon television series created by Scott Fellows about the Hollywood misadventures of four hockey players from Minnesota—Kendall, Logan, James, and Carlos, after they are selected to form a boy band. The series premiered with an hour-long pilot episode, "Big Time...
, and Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures
Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures
Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures is an American teen sitcom that premiered on Nickelodeon July 1, 2011.-Premise:The series follows two friends from the fictional California town of Pacific Bluffs. Oftentimes, the boys act quite sporadically leading them to multiple conflicts.-Main...
, which are all targeted towards older children and teenagers, along with adults. Nickelodeon's teen sitcoms (and programs in general) are known for their allusions and pop culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
references, social commentary, dark humours, surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
and sexual innuendos. There are also general random moments, but in an often realistic environment and relatable situations to teenagers. Their popularity has led Nick to dissolve its long-running SNICK
SNICK
SNICK was a two-hour programming block on the American cable television network Nickelodeon, geared toward general audiences, that ran from August 15, 1992 until August 28, 2004. It was aired on Saturdays starting at 8 p.m and ending at 10 p.m. ET. In 2004, SNICK was revamped as the Saturday night...
block and replace it with the TEENick
TEENick
TEENick was a teen-oriented television programming block that aired on Nickelodeon. The block launched on 2001 and lasted until February 2, 2009. TEENick aired on Sunday nights from 6-9 p.m. ET/PT and, beginning in 2004, began to also air on Saturday nights from 8-10 p.m. ET/PT...
block and later a separate channel, The N (now TeenNick
TeenNick
TeenNick, formerly The N, is an American television network aimed at the teenage market. TeenNick is owned by the MTV Networks subsidiary, Viacom. The channel was originally known as The N from its April 1, 2002 launch until September 28, 2009....
), which is devoted to airing teen dramas and sitcoms.
Disney Channel
During the late 1990s, the Disney ChannelDisney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
also tried to mimic the popularity of teen dramas and sitcoms by creating original series such as Flash Forward
Flash Forward
Flash Forward is a Disney Channel Original Series produced in Canada for pre-teens and teenagers which aired on both the Disney Channel and ABC from 1996-1997....
, The Jersey
The Jersey
The Jersey is a television series produced by the Disney Channel and based on the Monday Night Football Club books by Gordon Korman.-Premise:...
, The Famous Jett Jackson
The Famous Jett Jackson
The Famous Jett Jackson is a joint Canadian and American Disney Channel Original Series coming-of-age television series for children ages 12–16 about a boy named Jett Jackson who plays a teenage secret-agent on a fictional TV show-within-a-show called Silverstone...
and So Weird
So Weird
So Weird is a television series shot in Vancouver, British Columbia that aired on the Disney Channel as a midseason replacement from January 18, 1999 to September 28, 2001. In season one and season two, the series centered around teenage girl Fiona Phillips who toured with her rock star mom ,...
. Jett Jackson was about a TV star trying to live as a normal teenager and So Weird was a dramatic sci-fi series that focused around a teenage girl who attracts the paranormal/occult and often has to battle potential threats to humanity. So Weird was the first Disney Channel series to focus on dark and scary topics and thus opted Disney to air a much lighter third season which was not as popular with fans. Disney Channel has aired the successful sitcoms Even Stevens
Even Stevens
Even Stevens is an American comedy television series that aired on Disney Channel with a total of three seasons and 65 episodes from June 17, 2000, to June 2, 2003...
, about the sibling rivalry between Ren and Louis Stevens, and Lizzie McGuire
Lizzie McGuire
Lizzie McGuire is an American teen sitcom which premiered on the Disney Channel on January 12, 2001 and ended February 14, 2004. A total of 65 episodes were produced and aired. Its target demographic was preteens and adolescents...
, which was about a junior high girl who has to battle puberty, popularity and other teen issues; both shows were very popular. The sitcom That's So Raven
That's So Raven
That's So Raven is an American cable television teen sitcom/fantasy series. The show premiered on the Disney Channel on January 17, 2003, and ended on November 10, 2007. The show spawned Disney Channel's first spin-off series: Cory in the House...
became Disney Channel's most popular sitcom to date, outliving previous series by 4 years and 4 seasons, as well as being the first Disney Channel original series ever to reach 100 episodes. Today, Disney Channel airs Jessie
Jessie (TV series)
Jessie is an American television sitcom which premiered on September 30, 2011 on the Disney Channel. The series was created and executive produced by Pamela Eells O'Connell and stars Debby Ryan as Jessie, a small town Texas girl who moves to New York City and becomes a nanny to a high profile...
, The Suite Life on Deck
The Suite Life on Deck
The Suite Life on Deck is an American sitcom that aired on Disney Channel from September 26, 2008 to May 6, 2011. It is a sequel/spin-off of the Disney Channel Original Series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody...
, Wizards of Waverly Place
Wizards of Waverly Place
Wizards of Waverly Place is a Disney Channel Original Series that premiered on October 12, 2007. It won "Outstanding Children's Program" at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards in 2009...
, So Random!
So Random!
So Random! is an American Disney Channel sketch comedy series that premiered on June 5, 2011. It was announced as an independent series after Demi Lovato left the parent series, Sonny with a Chance...
, Good Luck Charlie
Good Luck Charlie
Good Luck Charlie is an original Disney Channel television sitcom, which premiered April 4, 2010. The series was created by Phil Baker and Drew Vaupen, who wanted to create a program that would appeal to entire families, as opposed to children only...
, Shake it up
Shake It Up (TV series)
Shake It Up is an American television sitcom airing on Disney Channel in the United States. The series premiered on November 7, 2010. Created by Chris Thompson and starring Bella Thorne and Zendaya, the show follows the adventures of Cece Jones and Rocky Blue as they star as background dancers on...
and ANT Farm, which are all fairly popular with a teenage audience. Hannah Montana in 2010 beat out That's So Raven in popularity, though it was still short of That's So Ravens 100-episode record by two episodes. The sitcoms on Disney Channel are more targeted towards preteen girls which led to the creation of the male-oriented Disney XD
Disney XD
Disney XD is a brand of children's TV channels worldwide targeting young males, owned by The Walt Disney Company. The channel was formerly known as Toon Disney and/or Jetix in most areas. According to Gary Marsh, President of Entertainment for Disney Channel Worldwide, "XD" does not "stand for...
. Disney XD airs the sitcom Zeke and Luther
Zeke and Luther
Zeke and Luther is an American Disney XD sitcom about two best friends setting their sights on becoming the world's greatest skateboarders. The show stars Hutch Dano, Adam Hicks, Daniel Curtis Lee and Ryan Newman ....
, which is the most popular sitcom to date, and also airs sitcoms I'm in the Band
I'm in the Band
I'm in the Band, is a live-action sitcom airing on Disney XD in the United States and on Family Channel in Canada. The pilot episode was taped on July 14, 2009, with a "sneak preview" airing on November 27, 2009; the show subsequently joined Disney XD's regular schedule on February 20, 2010, with...
, Kickin' It
Kickin' It
Kickin' It is an American martial arts inspired comedy television series, which debuted on June 13, 2011 on Disney XD. Created and executive produced by Jim O'Doherty, the series is rated TV-Y7 and follows the karate instructor at an under-performing martial arts academy, played by Jason Earles,...
, and Pair of Kings
Pair of Kings
Pair of Kings is an American television sitcom shown on the Disney XD cable channel. It was created by Dan Cross and David Hoge and stars Mitchel Musso and Doc Shaw. The sitcom's target audience are teenagers...
. That's So Raven had been unchallenged for five years until Wizards of Waverly Place aired its 100th episode on October 7, 2011, and then aired its 101st episode a week later.
Fox, WB and UPN
The networks FoxFox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
, The WB, and UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
became channels targeted towards youth. Fox aired teen dramas such as Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
, and Party of Five
Party of Five
Party of Five is an American teen drama television series that aired on Fox for six seasons, from September 12, 1994, until May 3, 2000.Critically acclaimed, the show suffered from low ratings and after its first season was slated for cancellation...
and sitcoms such as That '70s Show
That '70s Show
That '70s Show is an American television period sitcom that centers on the lives of a group of teenage friends living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 17, 1976, to December 31, 1979...
, Married with Children and Parker Lewis Can't Lose
Parker Lewis Can't Lose
Parker Lewis Can't Lose is an American teen sitcom that originally aired on FOX from September 1990 to June 1993. During the last season, the series sported the simpler title Parker Lewis. The series was produced by Columbia Pictures Television and was strongly influenced by the feature film Ferris...
. That '70s Show was a hit success and was popular with teenage audiences and adults. It followed six teenagers living in Wisconsin between 1976 to 1979, despite the short time period it was set in, the sitcom aired for eight years on Fox.
The WB and UPN were popular destinations for teen sitcoms. The WB aired Sister, Sister
Sister, Sister (TV series)
Sister, Sister is an American television sitcom about identical twin girls Tia Landry and Tamera Campbell , who were separated and adopted at birth, when one day they come face-to-face after 14 years apart....
a show about two teenage twins who were separated at birth and reunite in a clothing store and later get their single parents to let them all live in the same house, The WB also aired What I Like About You
What I Like About You (TV series)
What I Like About You is an American television sitcom set mainly in New York City, following the lives of two sisters, Valerie Tyler and Holly Tyler . The series ran on The WB Television Network from September 20, 2002, to March 24, 2006, with a total of 86 episodes produced...
a sitcom about a spontaneous, wild 16-year-old girl Holly Tyler (portrayed by former Nickelodeon star Amanda Bynes
Amanda Bynes
Amanda Laura Bynes is an American actress, comedian, singer, and fashion designer. Bynes appeared in several successful television series, such as All That and The Amanda Show, on Nickelodeon in the mid to late 1990s and early 2000s, and in 2002, she starred in the TV series, What I Like About You...
) and her neurotic, uptight older sister Valerie (portrayed by former 90210 star Jennie Garth
Jennie Garth
Jennifer Eve "Jennie" Garth is an American actress and director, best known for starring in the prominent role of Kelly Taylor throughout the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
). The WB also aired dramas such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and One Tree Hill
One Tree Hill (TV series)
One Tree Hill is an American television drama created by Mark Schwahn, which premiered on September 23, 2003, on The WB Television Network. After its third season, The WB merged with UPN to form The CW Television Network, and, since September 27, 2006, the network has been the official broadcaster...
. UPN airs mostly black sitcoms such as Moesha
Moesha
Moesha is an American sitcom series that aired on the UPN network from January 23, 1996 to May 14, 2001. The series stars R&B singer Brandy Norwood as Moesha Mitchell, a high school student living with her family in the Leimert Park neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles.-Overview:The show...
which was about a teenage African-American girl named Moesha (portrayed by singer Brandy
Brandy Norwood
Brandy Rayana Norwood , known professionally as Brandy, is an American singer-songwriter, producer, actress, and dancer. In 2009, she introduced her rap alter-ego Bran'Nu....
) and her family and friends. The sitcom One on One
One on One (TV series)
One on One is an American sitcom that aired on the now-defunct UPN from its September 3, 2001 premiere until May 15, 2006. The series stars Flex Alexander as a single sportscaster, who becomes a full-time dad when his ex-wife decides to accept a job out of the country and his teenage daughter...
was about a young African-American girl named Breanna (Kyla Pratt
Kyla Pratt
Kyla Alissa Pratt is an American actress and singer.-Early life:Pratt was born in Los Angeles, the oldest of five children of Kecia Pratt-McCullar, a schoolteacher, and Johnny McCullar, a semi-professional basketball player....
) who goes to live with her father who is a former basketball star. Both The WB and UPN were shut down in 2006 and were combined to make The CW. However by 2008 The CW dropped sitcoms from its schedule to focus more on dramas and soap operas.
See also
- List of teen situation comedies
- Teen dramaTeen dramaA teen drama is a dramatic television series with a major focus on teenage characters. The genre was relatively non-existent for the first 45 years of television; it came into prominence in the early 1990s...
– (List of teen dramas) - Teen films – (List of teen films)
- Teen popTeen popTeen pop is a subgenre of pop music that is created, marketed and oriented towards teenagers. Teen pop copies genres and styles such as pop, dance, R&B, hip hop, country and rock....
- Teen magazineTeen magazineTeen magazines are magazines aimed at female teenage readers. They usually consist of gossip, news, fashion tips and interviews and may include posters, stickers, small samples of cosmetics or other products and inserts. Magazines targeting teenage boys are not often called teen...
- (List of teen magazines) - Very special episodes